The Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) says 157 employees are listed to be sent off, almost half of whom have already received their termination letters, as part of its restructuring plans and rationalization of staffing.
In a press statement yesterday, GWI disclosed that 76 of the 157 employees received their termination letters on Monday. They are expected to go off on June 30.
The remaining 81 staffers are expected to be sent off within the next three months, the company said.
GWI said that the employees will receive their severance benefits by the end of this month.
“It must be noted that due process was followed prior to any decision making and all employees will receive their severance benefits by the end of June,” the statement noted.
The employees are being terminated under the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act to facilitate the “efficient” and “productive” management of the company’s daily operations, GWI said.
During last week, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GWI, Shaik Baksh announced that a number of employees would be terminated after a recent study found that overstaffing at the company has led to high expenditure.
“….We had to proceed on this and we reached to a stage where a number of employees will have to be terminated in accordance with the law. That is the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act,” Baksh told reporters last Thursday at GWI’s Headquarters on Vlissengen Road, Georgetown.
He explained that the company embarked on a rationalisation process about eight months ago during which an in-depth study of the organisation was undertaken.
Baksh pointed out that the employment cost of the organisation had moved from $96M per month in 2015 to $240M in 2020; a “staggering” 140 per cent increase.
“This was not sustainable at GWI and, therefore, the staffing establishment rationalisation was important,” he said.
Present during the interview also was GWI Executive Director of Human Resources, Elvis Jordan, who outlined the procedures followed during this process.
Jordan explained that among its objectives, the review aimed at determining whether there were overlapping functions leading to inefficiencies and excessive staffing.
“After the completion of that exercise, it was realized that the staff count …as of September 2020 was 1314 and coming out of the exercise….we believed that this number can be reduced to just about 1000, 994,” Jordan said.
As of April, this year, Jordan added that the number stood at 1156, largely due to attrition by persons retiring and resigning.
Jordan further stated that the procedure was not a “flash by night” one where a decision to decrease the staff number was taken.
Instead, he said all the necessary procedures were followed and everyone within the organisation hierarchy played their part.
“……And the process was one that we would have looked at the structure, looked at activity, involved the various directors, department heads and everybody to critically analyze the work process to see where the possible excess staff or overstaffing,” Jordan explained.
Likewise, he said all stakeholders were involved.
According to Jordan, GWI informed the Ministry of Labour as well as the Guyana Labour Union. The union, he said responded with no objection.
In addition, Jordan said a number of meetings were held earlier this year with staff to help them understand the position of the company and the way forward.
GWI yesterday said that the management and Board of Directors have been making efforts to place employees in public and private organisations.
The company added that it will continue to engage more entities for this purpose.
